World Elderly Day

On the occasion of World Elderly Day Porosh extends warm greetings to its members. Since inception it has been a roller-coaster ride. The love and trust reposed on Team Porosh by the members and their children have indeed been beyond expectations. The founders of Porosh – Paushali & Souparno - started the journey on the basis of serving the elderly citizens with a very clear understanding that they had to establish personal rapport with the members to serve them well. They had realized early on that in the absence of children they had the onerous task of filling-in their shoes. Hence, both of them have discharged their collective responsibilities with a missionary zeal.

Learnings have been immense and far-reaching. Getting to know of the needs and aspirations of senior citizens and being able to bring smile on their faces by fulfilling those have been immensely gratifying to say the least. The spontaneous blessings showered on Porosh and the smile on their faces have been the hallmark of Porosh.

All that Porosh needs is to remain steady and continue on its noble endeavor without losing focus and trappings that may come on the way.

A friendly sip of coffee

Introduction

While savouring Colombian coffee in a chic South Kolkata café our eyes fell on a statement displayed on a wall claiming that consumption of coffee may help in arresting dementia and Alzheimer. We were intrigued and thus, decided to do a bit of study on our own and understand whether it is indeed so. The following sections attempt to summarize the findings.

Findings

a) A research paper published in Nutrition (Volume 32, Issue 6, June 2016, Pages 628-636) on “Habitual coffee consumption and risk of cognitive decline/dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies” concluded by stating that the study suggested higher coffee consumption is associated with reduced risk for Alzheimer disease. However, it was added further, randomized controlled trials, or well-designed cohort studies are needed to determine the association between coffee consumption and cognitive decline, or dementia.

b) In yet another paper on “Coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption and prevention of late-life cognitive decline and dementia: A systematic review” in The Journal of Nutrition, Health & Aging (March 2015, Volume 19, issue 3, pp. 313–328| observed that given the very limited therapeutic value of drugs currently used in the treatment of Alzheimer Disease (AD) and dementia, preventing or postponing the onset of AD and delaying or slowing its progression are becoming mandatory. Among diet-associated factors, coffee is best known psychoactive stimulant resulting in heightened alertness and arousal and improvement of cognitive performance. Besides its short-term effect, study of some long-term effects on brain function provided evidence that coffee, tea, and caffeine consumption or higher plasma caffeine levels may be protective against cognitive impairment/decline and dementia.

c) A research article “Association between Coffee Consumption and Incident Risk of Disabling Dementia in Elderly Japanese: The Ohsaki Cohort 2006 Study” in Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease (Vol. 50, No. 2, pp. 491-500, 2016) investigated the association between coffee consumption and incident risk of dementia in an elderly Japanese population. 23,091 subjects aged ≥65 y living in Ohsaki City, north eastern Japan, responded to the baseline survey in 2006. It was observed that overall, coffee consumption was significantly associated with a lower risk of incident dementia. In addition, this significant inverse association was more remarkable among women, non-smokers, and non-drinkers. Coffee consumption is significantly associated with a lower risk of incident dementia.

Conclusion

The above research papers have not drawn any conclusive evidence of coffee consumption reducing the debilitating impact of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease on an individual and this includes a senior citizen as well. However, the findings unequivocally indicate that it offers protection against cognitive impairment/decline and dementia. More research needs to be done in this domain before a conclusion can be arrived at. It may also be noted that none of the research papers consulted by Porosh have included the Indian populace. Who knows the results may then then be quite different then.

Prevention is better than cure

Lest Porosh sounds cynical and desirous of cashing-in on the fear of others (and that too senior citizens), well then, it is a case of misplaced perception. In one of our earlier articles we had mentioned the role of organizations like us who are committed and dedicated to the well-being of elderly people in need of support has a duty to make them of aware of the happenings around so that they take preventive measures so that it is never too late.

As we are aware, the 3rd Wave has taken-off in India and who knows if it will not take the form of a tsunami soon! Hence, the need of the hour is to remain cautious and not let our guards off. While travelling on the streets of Kolkata one gets an impression that we have not learnt from our terrifying experience during the 2nd wave of Covid only a few months ago.

The basic practice of following social distancing, wearing mask and sanitizing of hands are being flouted. Such cavalier approach seems to suggest as though we have developed herd immunity against the deadly virus. Let us share an example to indicate how shallow is our understanding about the lethal virus. The other day while travelling in Metro we overheard a person observing, “Jaak duto dose vaccine neoa hoye gechhe, aar kono bhoy nei.” (Now that I have been vaccinated twice, I do not have anything to fear of.) So, what else can be a more fertile ground for the virus to spread its tentacles if not this?

Hence, we felt that we sound once again caution our readers, members and clients about the impending disaster. Although it cannot be averted yet the impact of it can be minimized by adhering to the Stand Operating Procedure (SOPs).